Butt backs United for title tilt next season as Scholes questions Arsenal's staying power

Michael Carrick's flying start has sparked a bold prediction from former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt: the Red Devils can mount a genuine title challenge come next season, provided the summer transfer window delivers the goods.

United have won all four matches since Carrick took over from sacked Ruben Amorim in January, vaulting them into fourth place and within touching distance of Champions League football. That trajectory alone has some former players and pundits openly wondering whether the interim boss might become a permanent fixture.

Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt stopped short of demanding Carrick be handed the job long-term, but was bullish about United's prospects. "If they get the right players in I think they could, yeah," he said, before qualifying his optimism with a dose of realism.

"But that's more a reflection on the other teams that are around. It's not two amazing teams fighting for the title and United are right underneath them. I said a few months ago that we're five or six years off winning the league because it's a plan you need to go through. So I sound like a d*** saying we can challenge next season but I just can't see any of the other teams running away with it."

The former midfielder sees no obvious superpower among the traditional heavyweights. "We've spoken about Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool – there's no team there that you can guarantee are going to dominate the Premier League now. There's no team that look like dominating for the next ten years. Arsenal don't scare me… they are a great team and have a great squad but they don't put the fear into other teams like Man City did or Arsenal and United did back in the day."

Butt reckoned the Champions League equation changes everything. "If you asked me this question two months ago I would have said no but now it looks like we're going to get back into the Champions League. That means your target audiences for players is a lot bigger and you're going to get better players with more quality. If they get back into the Champions League and then get their recruitment right, I think United will have a chance, yeah."

Arsenal currently sit six points clear at the summit, while Manchester City kept pace with a 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday.

Yet Paul Scholes shares Butt's scepticism about the Gunners' long-term grip on the title. The United legend sees no signs of the suffocating dominance that defined Pep Guardiola's City juggernaut. "You've got to do it over a season but if you look at the last few weeks, Man United have beat the two teams who are challenging for the title," Scholes noted.

"I don't see Arsenal dominating. You don't see mind-blowing performances from them, do you? You know when a team is special – you looked at Man City under Pep Guardiola and thought, 'how do we beat them?' I'm not looking at Arsenal and thinking they're miles ahead of everyone and they're going to win the league for the next few years. I just don't see that dominance from Arsenal."

Scholes pointed to football's cruel unpredictability as a cautionary tale. "We saw Liverpool win the league last year with that team and then they go and spend £450m and you think, 'f****** hell, Liverpool could win the league for the next five years, they're going to be dominant.' And look what's happened to them. Football is funny like that, things can change quite quickly."